


Episode 2.18: Guardians of the Galaxy

by Starbooks13



Series: Spiders Have To Stick Together [44]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ultimate Spider-Man (Cartoon)
Genre: BAMF Gamora, BAMF Natasha Romanov, Bechdal Test Fail, Betting, Blending Universes, Female Friendship, Gen, Nova Has Five Guardian Angels, POV Female Character, Protective!Guardians, Protective!Natasha, Ship Teasing, Sneaky!Natasha, Sparring, Spiders Have To Stick Together, Teams Hanging Out, The Guardians and the Avengers are pals, There's more Avengers there they just don't talk, canon compliant AU, unfortunately
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-06-20
Packaged: 2018-04-05 05:29:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4167714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starbooks13/pseuds/Starbooks13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Gamora and Natasha spar and the author tries and fails to make them pass the Bechdal Test.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Episode 2.18: Guardians of the Galaxy

                Gamora’s back hit the mat with an audible thud and she rolled to her feet as fast as she could, just barely avoiding the Black Widow’s attempt to pin her.  Their sparring match would have been over then, and they’d only been on this tiebreaker round for ten minutes.  The other two rounds had lasted a half-hour each at least.

                “Oh, come on, Gamora, let her win already!” came Rocket’s voice from the sidelines where their male teammates were enjoying the spectacle.  “I’m starving, and Stark won’t order dinner until there’s a winner!”

                “Au contraire, my heavy-machine-gun-toting mammalian friend,” Stark responded.  “If Natasha wins, then it’s Star Lord over here who’s ordering dinner.”

                Her opponent straightened up and grinned at her.  “I should probably let you win, in that case.  Stark can afford way more food than I bet your boyfriend can.”

                There were some teasing hoots from the sidelines—Stark and Barton, most notably—as well as some protestations from Quill and Drax asking when he and Gamora had begun courting.

                Gamora simply rolled her eyes.  “And here I thought it was just ignorant foes who liked to toss that falsehood around.”

                Romanoff smirked as they started circling each other, looking for an opening to strike.  “You know, there’s a river on Earth called the Nile, and I think you and Quill are very much drowning in it.”

                She paused.  Quill had mentioned something similar to that before, but she couldn’t quite remember the saying.  “What does that mean aga-” Before she could finish the sentence, Romanoff had launched herself at her, wrapped her legs around Gamora’s head, and thrown her down to the mat.  This time, Gamora let the Widow plant a foot on her neck.  She deserved to lose for making such a rookie mistake as letting herself get distracted.

                There was a mixed chorus of cheers and groans from the sidelines.  Romanoff simply removed her foot and helped Gamora to her feet.  “And here I thought that wouldn’t work.”

                Gamora scowled.  “I will memorize your Terran sayings so that in the future it does not.”

                “Oh, cheer up, Gamora.”  She turned to see Rocket making his way onto the mats, Groot’s pot cradled in hand.  “We all know that in a straight fight you’d kick her ass.  You did in that second round.”

                “I am Groot.”

                “Yeah, like Groot says, you only lost that other round on a fluke.”

                “They have a point,” Romanoff said, moving to fetch their refreshments, something the Terrans referred to as “water-bottles.”  “You are definitely the better fighter.  I’m just trickier.”

                Gamora folded her arms across her chest.  “I can be tricky when I want to be.  Ask Quill.”

                “I said ‘trickier,’ not that you did have the capacity to be tricky.”  Romanoff tossed her water-bottle over and Gamora caught it effortlessly, copying the Terran woman in taking a long drag from the vessel.

                “Okay, pizza’s on Quill!” Barton called over.  “Should be here in about an hour!”

                “Good, that gives us time to freshen up.”  Romanoff gestured for Gamora to follow her towards the shower room.  She sighed once the door had shut behind them both.  “And to have time for a little girl talk without the boys hovering over our shoulders.”

                That made Gamora smile.  “They do realize that we mostly compare fighting techniques and battle strategies whenever I visit, right?”

                Romanoff rolled her eyes.  “Steve and Rocket do.  The others are just idiots.”

                She raised an eyebrow.  “I object! Groot is actually quite intelligent.”

                That got a smile out of the Terran.  “True.  He is Groot.”  She sat down on one of the benches and began removing her training footwear.  “Now, be honest with me.  You got the idea of being Trojan prisoners on that Chitauri ship from me, didn’t you?  Rocket did say it was your plan, after all.”

                Gamora sat on the opposite bench and began copying her.  “You may have given me a little inspiration.  Though considering where we ended up after following said plan, I’m not sure if it is as successful a method of infiltration as you claim.”

                “But everything worked out in the end.  That’s the whole point.”

                “Thank you for providing Rocket with Sam’s location, by the way.  Without him, nothing would have worked out.”

                Romanoff set her shoes and socks to the side.  “Guess I owe the kid a thank you for saving the world.”

                “He’s not the only one.  Spider-Man acquitted himself rather admirably as well.”

                “Which reminds me; I owe Rocket a thank you for not killing Peter when they met.”

                Gamora chuckled.  “I’m surprised he didn’t at least try.  He doesn’t take being called a number of things, ‘raccoon’ being one of them.”  She paused and studied the other woman for a moment. “You care about him.  Even though from what Sam has told me, neither of you have ever met.”

                Romanoff met her curious stare with a casually blank look.  “And why would you think that?”

                She smirked.  “You called him ‘Peter.’  The idea of being on a ‘first-name basis’ with someone isn’t restricted to Terrans.”

                Romanoff returned the smirk.  “Is that why you call your Peter ‘Quill’?  For distance?”

                She frowned.  “Don’t dodge the question, Widow.”

                The Terran sighed.  “Why do you care, Gamora?  It has nothing to do with you.”

                “Forgive me for being curious.  I just don’t understand why you care about someone you have never met.”

                “Have you ever met the majority of the people whose lives you’ve saved?”

                “No.  That would be impossible.”  And what did that have to do with Spider-Man?

                “Yet you still care enough about them to risk your life for them.”

                “Because it’s the right thing to do.”

                “Exactly.”

                “So he is under your protection.”

                Romanoff shrugged.  “More or less.”

                “Then you know the Chitauri have him in their records now.  That Korvac was merely a puppet for an even greater adversary.”

                The Widow was silent for a moment before replying.  “I know.  It changes nothing.  I’ve been fighting to protect him from threats beyond our world for some time already.” She suddenly gave Gamora a small smile.  “And he’s been doing pretty well for himself so far, I’d say.”

                “You have a point.”  The boy had more than kept up with her team aboard the Chitauri ship.  And for all their bickering, she could tell Sam considered him a friend and would fight with him—for him—should he ever be in danger.  “Particularly if he has allies to back him up.”

                “Like Nova.”  It was as if Romanoff had read her mind.  “Anyway, we’d probably better hurry up and shower.  If we don’t get there when the pizza does, it’ll be all gone.”

                “Right.  Not to mention you reek of Terran sweat.”  She gave a theatrical wince and pinched her nose.  “I get enough of that from Quill.”

                She got a chuckle out of the Widow.  “You’re no spring rose yourself.  C’mon, I’ll show you where the towels are.”

                Later, after they’d refreshed themselves and joined the boys for food, Gamora noticed Romanoff pulling Rocket aside to speak to him.  She leaned over to Quill, who had claimed the seat next to her.  “It seems spiders on Terra stick together.”  At his questioning look, she nodded to the Widow and their friend.  “She thanks him for not killing Spider-Man.  He is under her protection, it seems.”

                “Like Sam is under ours?”

                “Yes.”

                “Good.  If she’s watching out for Spider-Man, it means she’s watching out for his team.  That means Sam has someone watching out for him here, even though it’s just by association.”

                “He’ll be fine, Quill.  Terra is his home, remember?  Like it is yours.”

                “It doesn’t feel that way anymore.”  He rubbed the back of his neck, looking suddenly sheepish.  “Honestly, the Milano feels more like home now.  What, with you guys and all.”

                Gamora was a warrior and an assassin.  She did not blush.  But when Natasha Romanoff looked over at them, the smirk on her face said it all.

                That did it.  Next time they visited Terra, Gamora was challenging her to a rematch.  And this time, she would not lose.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, it's not Pepper, but I finally found a way to have a female narrator. I apologize if Gamora or any of the Guardians seem particularly OOC, but this was my first time writing her POV and I was trying to balance the MCU version of her with the version the episode gave us, same with the rest of the team. But I entirely blame Gamora and Natasha for failing the Bechdal Test. Those two just did not want to talk about anything else. ;)


End file.
